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A friend of mine in Vancouver called me up to do a mastermind session to help him deal with a situation in his business.

This particular situation is one I think a lot of entrepreneurs run up against eventually, including myself.

What do you do when you have a business that you’ve worked hard to build up over the years, but you’ve lost your motivation for it and want to start something new?

The problem is your old business pays the bills, and in order for it to keep paying the bills, you have to keep working on it.

Frequently what happens in this situation is the entrepreneur contemplates running both businesses at once, effectively building a new startup at the same time as keeping an old business going.

This is a lot like being in a marriage you no longer want to be in, while also going out there and dating new people.

It’s not going to work.

So, what do you do in this situation? Listen in to the podcast to get my advice.

When Is The Right Time To Have More Than One Business?

There are many super-successful entrepreneurs on this planet who have multiple businesses. In fact, often this is how the very wealthy become ultra-wealthy, using one business success to create another and then another.

However you have to be careful to make sure you are in the right situation to start a second business, AND you do so the right way.

Right now as I recorded this podcast I have two startups in development as well as my main business up and running.

One of the startups is an internet business partnership going after basically the same market as I currently reach.

The other is a completely new business in a completely new industry, also in a partnership with a co-founder.

In the past I’ve also had a couple of partnerships in businesses, some have done well, some have not done so well.

During all this time I’ve always had my main business running, and in fact it’s frequently because of this business that I’ve been able to consider starting new businesses.

A successful business gives you capital, access to human resources and markets. If you build a business that mostly runs itself, you can free yourself to focus on new businesses without worrying about paying your bills.

Concurrently or Consecutively?

One of the most important lessons in this podcast is the idea of building multiple businesses concurrently or consecutively.

As you will learn with all the examples I present in the podcast, in almost all cases consecutively is a lot smarter than concurrently.

The challenge for new entrepreneurs is to figure out which of their ideas is the best one to start with.

The challenge for established entrepreneurs like my friend, is how to get to the point where you can work on the new business you are excited about, when you still need cash from your old business.

Enjoy the podcast,
Yaro

Topics Covered In This Interview

  • The various phases of entrepreneurship where you may start thinking about starting multiple businesses
  • The temptation of bloggers to start multiple blogs on different niches / topics
  • When it makes sense to pursue multiple businesses at once
  • Why I was able to start Entrepreneurs-Journey.com and focus just on the cause
  • When entrepreneurship becomes boring
  • What to do when you have a business that works well but depends on you being in it
  • 2 ways you can ‘exit’ your current business once you’ve decided to start something new
  • How you can be involved in a new business without starting a new one
  • How to get started in a business that you don’t have the relevant knowledge or expertise in
  • My recommended steps to take for starting multiple businesses
  • The ‘Success Ladder’ Principle

Relevant Links

[ Download MP3 | Transcript | iTunes | Soundcloud | Raw RSS ]

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